


The Princess and the Witch

by reallyqween_92



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe, Castles, F/F, Fluff, Love, Magic, Princess Diana, Princess and the Pauper, Slow Burn, Witches, poor akko
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 01:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11933367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reallyqween_92/pseuds/reallyqween_92
Summary: Akko just wants to become the best witch she can be, but one day a spell backfires, turning her into a flying bunny that somehow lands inside the castle walls. Diana is a princess trapped by her responsibilities who just wants to practice her magic and not marry the prince her uncle has set her up with. But her time is running out when one day a bunny seemingly falls from the sky and changes the course of her life forever. Slowly but surely their tentative friendship grows into something more.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, I just finished LWA and fell in love with this pairing. This is an AU, but it's a pretty similar place to the actual setting of LWA. Hope you enjoy it!

“Hey Akko, don’t get left behind!” Sucy yelled back to her friend, who was staring up at the large stone wall that blocked the surrounding town from the castle grounds. It was a huge compound, complete with two rings of stone walls that towered over the tallest buildings in the town. The actual castle itself loomed over the horizon. Akko had grown up in the town, along with her two best friends, Sucy and Lotte, who were currently leaving her behind. She had always dreamed of seeing what the inside of the castle looked like. In her mind, it was a magical place filled with beautiful fancy things and people. She had caught glimpses before when people were entering and leaving, but a witch of low standing like herself would never be allowed to go in and see it.

“Akko, we’re going to be late to class if we don’t hurry up!” Lotte yelled from further up the cobblestone path.  
“Yeah, and the castle ain’t going anywhere!” Sucy added. Akko looked up at the wall one more time before hurrying to join her friends.  
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” She yelled, once she caught up they made their way to the nearby school for aspiring witches. It was a small school now, most of the grounds had been abandoned when a new school, Luna Nova, had opened up inside the first ring of the palace walls. The new school was bigger and had all the most recent technology, as well as a reputation as the best educational facility for witches in the world. Akko was determined to go there someday. She had even heard rumors that the Princess herself attended the school. She had seen the princess a few times during celebrations, all blonde hair and proper smiles, but didn’t really know a thing about her. This hadn’t stopped her from being curious though. Akko found herself ever examining the magic barrier around the castle for any crack or soft spot that she could squeeze through, but had yet to be successful. She was shaken out of her thoughts when whatever potion she was working on exploded in her face, creating a large pink cloud of smoke and a foul odor.

“Not again Akko, quit daydreaming and pay attention!” The teacher scolded as Akko tried to clean up the mess. Sucy and Lotte helped, both staying after class to scrub pink gunk off the floors.  
“Thanks for helping guys, sorry I messed that one up again.” Akoo said quietly.  
“You’ll just have to repay me by being my test subject for a new spell I’ve been working on.” Sucy said with a grin that made Akko’s stomach drop.  
“I’m always your test subject anyway!” Akko complained and Sucy just shrugged and said  
“You just make such a good lab rat, you know?”  
“Hey, it’s not my fault that the only transformation spell I can do is a mouse!” Akko complained.  
“Actually, it kind of is your fault.” Lotte corrected and Akko slumped down, laying face first on the floor.  
“Ugghhhh, why am I such a terrible witch?” She moaned and Sucy began placing mushrooms on her back.  
“Maybe it’s because you sleep through half of the lessons.” Lotte suggested.  
“Or, it could be because you daydream all the time in class.” Sucy said.  
“You don’t really ever complete the homework on time.” Lotte added.  
“Could be your basic lack of attention too.” Sucy suggested and Akko sat up to glare at them.  
“Gee, thanks for all the encouragement guys.” She said sarcastically. They both smiled at Akko.  
“Don’t worry, you’ll get better. You just gotta keep trying!” Lotte said enthusiastically. Akko smiled back at her. She loved her friends and was happy to have their support. She quickly brushed the mushrooms off her back and stood up.  
“Alright, I’m going to do this, let’s go!” Sucy rolled her eyes, but the both followed Akko to their next class as she marched confidently ahead.

Meanwhile inside the castle walls, Princess Diana Cavendish paced around her large chamber, wearing a path into the lavish rugs beneath her feet. She had just finished her lessons for the day and had promptly been escorted back to her room and locked in it. Her uncle, the current king, was not fond of her wandering the grounds unattended and it irked her. Today though, there was much more bothering her. Her 16th birthday was only a few weeks away and that meant that she only had a few more weeks of freedom left. After that, her uncle would stop at nothing to have her married off to some Prince or Duke from as far away as possible. There was one man in particular whom she knew he was trying to marry her to, a childhood friend named Andrew. While he wasn’t the worst person ever, he did hold a certain prejudice toward witches that Diana could not stand.

She desperately wanted her own life, one where she could be more than just the perfect princess, but this was what she had. She stopped pacing and listened carefully, noting the silence coming from the other side of her door. Either her guards were asleep or had left their post, either way, this was her chance. She grabbed the wand that she kept hidden behind a loose stone in the wall and quickly cast a spell to unlock the door. She glanced around the halls carefully before slipping away through the veins of the beast-like castle. After nearly half an hour of walking, Diana made it to her destination. There was an old chapel on the castle grounds that had been left unused for nearly 15 years. The stained glass windows were cracking and all the seats had been removed or repurposed on the years. This had been a place that Diana had run to for years. It had been where she hid after her parents’ deaths and where she practiced her magic tirelessly. This was Diana’s spot. She quickly took off the dress she was wearing and changed into more suitable clothing that she had snatched from one of her male cousin’s rooms a few weeks prior. When she was younger and security was looser, she would often steal his clothes and sneak out of the palace walls to see the town and the markets. She had never been caught, but as she got older, her uncle’s rules and guards got stricter and she couldn’t ever get beyond the first wall anymore. Diana studied some of the ancient books she kept hidden there before starting her practice.

“Come on Akko, just try it. I promise it probably won’t even work, okay?” Sucy said, trying to get Akko to drink some orange liquid she had created.  
“Probably won’t work? What happens if it does work?” Akko protested. Lotte barely looked up from her book, too used to their antics.  
“Well, if it does work...you’ll finally be able to fly. And, you won’t even need a broom.” Sucy said and Akko eyes her suspiciously.  
“Fine.” Akko said, knowing she would end up drinking it eventually anyway. She tipped the contents of the container into her mouth, trying not to taste the bitter liquid as it went down. “Blegh, that was so gross.” She said, handing the container back to Sucy, who watched her intently. After a few moments Sucy’s eyes widened.  
“Oops.” Sucy said, quickly turning back to her chemistry equipment. “Guess I still have some work to do on this one.”  
“Why, what happened?” Akko said, but her voice sounded much more high-pitched than usual. She quickly looked down at her hands, but instead saw soft, white paws. She quickly scrambled over to the mirror on Sucy’s door and gasped. Her reflection wasn’t her at all, but instead a fluffy white bunny with big floppy ears staring back at her. The only way she knew it was herself was her dark maroon eyes stayed the same. “Sucy, what did you do! I thought this was supposed to make me fly!” She hopped back over to where Sucy was back at work on her potion. Lotte sat her book down and scooted over to sit on the floor.  
“Hey, this isn’t too bad, at least you’re a cute little bunny instead of some kind of mushroom monster from Sucy’s imagination.” Lotte said, tying Akko’s red ribbon around one of her ears in a neat bow.  
“Yeah, don’t worry Akko, it should wear off in 12 hours or so.” Sucy said, “Besides, it’s still possible that the flying part worked..  
“12 hours?! What am I supposed to do until then? Just hop around the streets? How is a bunny supposed to fly?” Akko said squeakily.  
I’ve got just the thing.” Sucy said, rummaging through her desk until she pulled out an old, knobby feather duster. She handed it to bunny Akko and grinned. “It’s the perfect size and it’s almost the same as a broom.” Akko glared back at her, but took it anyway. She hopped on it and was about to say the spell, but Lotte interrupted her.  
“Wait! Maybe we should do this outside? Just in case something explodes. I don’t want to die from some mushroom spored getting released from Sucy’s collection.”  
“Fair point.” Sucy said and they headed upstairs to the roof of Sucy’s building. Once up there, bunny Akko hopped back onto the feather duster and squeaked.  
“Tia Freyre!” At first nothing happened, then the end of the feather duster began to spark and tremble. Before Akko could let go, it shot off the roof with her clinging onto it for dear life. As she flew full speed through the town, Akko was certain this would be the end of her. The small victory of finally being able to fly was greatly underscored by the fact that she was heading directly towards the castle ground, a magic barrier between her and the ground. When she hit the barrier, Akko saw stars. It felt like every bellyflop into a pool she had ever done, but all at once. She hit hard, but suddenly she was sinking through. The barrier was melting beneath her and suddenly she was falling again. She landed with a loud thump and crunch in some bushes within the inner wall of the castle right next to an old building.

Just a few feet away in the chapel, Diana was startled by a loud thump outside and listened carefully. When she heard no movement, she peered outside into the evening light. She noticed the old rose bushes that were overgrown around the side of the chapel looked a little squashed and carefully poked around with the tip of her wand. After a moment, she came face to face with what looked like a little white bunny that had not had a very good day.  
“Oh, you poor thing! Did the dogs chase you in here?” She looked up, noticing a freshly broken branch above her in the weeping willow tree. She looked down at the limp bunny. “You know, it almost looks like you fell from the sky or something.” Diana carefully scooped up the unconscious creature and carried it back inside the building with her. Outside she could hear the alarm being raised, which probably meant another bird had flown into the barrier or something. She had not even seen the broken feather duster lying just behind the bunny.


	2. Chapter 2

Sucy and Lotte watched their best friend collide with the castle barrier and then sink through it in silence. After a few moments, Sucy shrugged and turned to head back inside.  
“Sucy! What do we do?” Lotte said, following her back inside.  
“Akko’s too dumb to die, so she is probably alright. Not sure there is much we can do, it’s not like we can get in there.”   
“I guess that’s true, we can’t just walk up and go in. We should at least go see if we can get her back.” Lotte said.  
“And what are we going to say? Uh, hi, we accidentally turned our friend into a bunny who just flew a feather duster through your super strong barrier and crashed somewhere in there. She is probably still a bunny and maybe dead, can we come look for her?” Sucy said.  
“Okay, I see your point, but we can’t just do nothing.”   
“Hmm, how about we give her 12 hours to get out, and then we go breaking in there ourselves? It can’t be too hard, Akko managed it.” Sucy said with a smile and Lotte nodded.

Diana laid the bunny down on her own dress inside the chapel. It was getting close to dinnertime and she knew she had to be back in her chambers soon. She quickly tied her hair up in a messy ponytail and grabbed her wand. After a few quick healing spells the bunny twitched it’s foot, gradually opening huge, deep maroon eyes. Diana stared right back with her icy blue eyes, wondering how the bunny’s eyes looked so human.

“Hi little bunny,” she said gently, surprised how unafraid of her the bunny looked. She tentatively reached out her hand and placed it on the bunny’s head, who still showed no sign of fear. “Well, aren’t you a brave little bunny. I hope you’re alright.” Diana said, rubbing the bunny between its ears. Diana could have sworn she saw the bunny nod, but she shook her head. “Alright little bunny, I have to get going, if they notice I’m missing it’s not going to be fun.” Diana stood up and grabbed her frilly dress, quickly changing back into it. She didn’t notice at all the way the bunny’s ears turned pink under the soft fur, or the way it looked away as she changed.   
“Alright little bunny,” Diana knelt down next to it and patted its head. “I will be back tomorrow to check on you.” She stood up and looked down at the bunny one more time before heading toward the tunnels that led back into the castle.As she walked, she heard the soft patter of paws behind her and looked down to see the bunny following her closely as she walked.  
“Bunny, you’ve gotta stay here, the castle is no place for little bunnies. I promise I’ll come back and check on you.” Diana said sweetly, but the bunny continued to follow her. After a few more minutes, she gave up. “Alright, but you had better be a well-behaved bunny.” She said, picking up the bunny and holding it as she made her way through the tunnels that eventually turned into hallways. Akko watched silently from Diana’s warm arms as they walked deeper and deeper into the castle. Eventually they came to a door and with an almost invisible flick of her wand, the lock clicked and the door swung open. Diana quickly ducked inside, shutting the heavy wooden door quietly behind her. She sat Akko bunny down on the bed and let out a deep breath.

“Well little bunny, we made it back.” Diana removed her shoes and Akko watched as she pulled a loose stone out of the wall and slipped her wand behind it. Diana saw the bunny watching and smiled a little sadly. “Shh, don’t tell anyone. I’m not allowed to have a wand outside of the school building.” Diana walked back over and sat on the edge of the bed. “I think it scares my uncle that I can do magic since he can’t.” Diana sighed and Akko could have sworn she saw tears in the very corners of her eyes. Since she wasn’t about to speak, she nuzzled up to Diana’s leg and put her soft paws on the soft fabric of her dress. Diana smiled down at her. “Look at you, such a sweet little bunny. Sorry to bother you with all this, my friends at school are not nearly as good at listening as you are.” Akko was about to finally speak when there was a knock on the door.  
“Miss Cavendish, it is time for dinner.” A gruff male voice said and Diana hopped off of her bed. Before leaving, she picked up the bunny and kissed it right between the ears.  
“I’ll be back little bunny, maybe I can bring you some food too.” With that, she went to the door, where two guards opened it for her and escorted her down the hall.

Inside, Akko was screaming, outside her only visible expression was the constant twitch of her velvety nose. As soon as Diana closed the door, she melted into a bunny puddle on the soft bed. She couldn’t believe she was in the castle, lesslone in the princess’s room! When she had first woken up and looked into Diana’s eyes she had thought she was dead and the angels had come for her. Instead, Diana had smiled at her and been so kind. Akko had wanted to speak to her, but then reconsidered that it might get her in even more trouble if she did. She was a little confused about why the princess was dressed in boy’s clothing when she could wear any cute outfit she could ever want, but those thoughts quickly left her mind when Diana had changed clothes. 

Akko tried not to think about it, and instead looked around the room. Everything was so big and so grande. The bed itself was covered in quilts, with a lace canopy above the mahogany four poster frame. There were intricate carvings on every inch of the dark wood that would take hours to examine. Across the room was a beautiful desk covered in ancient books that probably weighed as much as Akko did on a normal day. Near that was a dresser and armoire that matched the bedframe in color and carvings. The rugs on the floor and tapestries on the grey, stone walls wove intricate stories that were hundreds of years old. Akko had to explore it all.   
She hopped off the bed, landing in a tumbling heap on the thick rugs. She spent the next hour hopping around the room marveling at how big everything was. It wasn’t until she nearly stepped on her own ear that she realized it was partially due to how small she was in her bunny body. Everything seemed immaculate and in perfect order, unlike her own cramped room that was filled with random things. This room was sparsely decorated, the only thing Akko found that looked like it was touched at all was a trunk underneath Diana’s bed. It was worn and locked tightly. Akko wondered what was so valuable that it had to be locked away in a princess’s constantly guarded room. Before she could explore too much more, she heard a commotion in the hallway. With her big, floppy ears perked, she dove under the dresser just as the door opened. Akko watched as two sets of guards boots tromped in and one set of fancy men’s dress shoes.

“The king says to search this room from top to bottom, he thinks the princess is hiding more magical items in here.” The man with the nice shoes said sternly.  
“Yes sir.” The two guards replied and the man with nice shoes left. As soon as his footsteps had retreated down the hall, one of the guards sighed.  
“This is ridiculous.” One said.  
“I know, I don’t know why he goes to so much trouble with her. It’s not like she has ever threatened him at all.” The other replied.  
“Maybe she should, I mean, she is the rightful ruler.” The other said quietly and for a moment their movements ceased. Akko held her breath.  
“I would be careful with what I said if I were you. He was willing to do some pretty horrible things to his own family in order to become king, do you think he would spare you if he heard you say that?”  
“Point taken, let’s just do the stupid search. If the princess is smart, she’ll marry that rich prince and get herself out of here.”  
“Yeah, I would hate to see what happened if she stayed.” The guards continued their ransacking search until they had scoured almost every inch of the room. Akko cringed when they dumped all of the books off of Diana’s desk into a haphazard pile on the floor. As they finished their search, Akko couldn’t help but wonder what they had meant. After the guards left, Akko looked around the ransacked room forlornly. She wanted to clean it up for Diana, but in her bunny body, there wasn’t a lot she could do. Instead, she hopped over to look at the books.

The one on top was a book on advanced spellcasting that Akko could barely read. The next book was older, bound in relatively plain leather that had been worn down by the passing of time. Akko struggled ungracefully to flip it over and eventually settled for crawling under it in order to read the wrinkled pages. It looked like one of the legends about the original witches, but it was not quite like the one printed in her own textbooks. This story spoke about how their families betrayed them and destroyed all but a few of the sorcerer stones. How almost all of their lines were dead or spread far, far apart. There was more, but Akko heard footsteps in the hall and quickly jumped up onto the bed, listening intently for Diana’s voice. The door opened and Diana walked in, taking in the mess of her room. Akko was surprised to see that she didn’t look mad, or sad, or even upset. Instead she walked over to the bed and pulled a few carrots out of her pocket.

“Hi little bunny, i hope they didn’t scare you too bad. I managed to grab you a few carrots for now. You’ll have to go back outside tomorrow, but tonight you can keep me company.” Diana placed the carrots in front of the bunny, before heading around the room cleaning up everything. The only time Akko saw Diana seem the least bit ruffled was by the books, which she very gently picked back up and sat on her desk. Akko nibbled on her carrots as she watched. This was nothing like how she had imagined it would be to be a princess. This was isolating and sad. After a while, Diana changed into her bed clothes and laid down next to the bunny. Akko snuggled up to her, hoping to comfort her a little bit. She was rewarded with a smile and a rub between the ears, something she was beginning to like. She wanted to make Diana smile all the time. She startled slightly when she felt Diana’s cold hands lift her up off of the bed and hold her in the air.

“You sure are a cute little bunny, you know. It’s been nice to have some company in here.” Diana smiled again and Akko’s little bunny heart doubled its speed, pounding against her tiny ribs. It was enough for Diana to take notice and set her down. “Hey, did I scare you or something? I’m sorry little bunny, it’s okay.” She patted the bunny until it seemed to calm down some. Then Diana pulled back her blankets and crawled into bed with a book. Akko bunny wiggled her way into Diana’s lap and there they sat for another hour. Diana read and absently rubbed the bunny in her lap until they were both nearly asleep. After an especially big yawn, she put her book down and reached for the lamp.  
“Goodnight little bunny.” She whispered and could have sworn the bunny whispered goodnight back.


	3. Chapter 3

Diana awoke in the morning very confused. There was something heavy and very warm lying across her, making her unable to move. As she opened her eyes, she realized that the sun was barely peaking over the horizon yet and in the grainy grey light that filtered through her window, she could barely see. Diana struggled to move, but froze when she heard a whimper. She suddenly realized that whatever was on her was not a something, but a someone. 

“Ahhh!” Diana yelled, thrashing underneath the weight. A moment later there was a loud thump as whoever it was fell to the floor.  
“Oww.” Akko groaned, sitting up with her eyes still closed and rubbing her mess of hair. “You didn’t have to push me out of bed, I won’t be late to school again.” Akko said, slowly cracking a bleary eye and taking in her surroundings. Her eyes popped wide open when she realized she was not in her own room. She scrambled to look around and found herself staring into the terrified and clear blue eyes of Diana, whose face was twisted in shock. For a split second they just stared at each other and then Diana glanced down and immediately her face turned beet red. Akko was confused until she looked down and realized that she was completely naked. A sheet fell onto her and she looked up to see Diana looking in the other direction.

“Please cover yourself.” There was a proper intonation in her voice, but Akko could hear a slight waver as well. She quickly took the sheet and wrapped it around her body.  
“Now, who the hell are you and why are you in my bed?” Diana asked pointedly with a glare.  
“Uhm, I can explain?” Akko said with a nervous smile.  
“Please do before I call the guards in here.” Diana said sharply and Akko wished she was still a bunny. The coldness in Diana’s voice was harsh and a little frightening.

“So, my friend accidentally turned me into a flying bunny after class yesterday and I somehow crashed through the barrier around the castle and I guess I landed near you and the next thing I knew you were poking at me and fixing me up and I wanted to thank you for your kindness, but I wasn’t sure how, so I just followed you when you left and then you carried me in here and I was amazed because I had never seen anything like this and now here we are. I guess the spell wore off while I was sleeping. Oops.” Akko said all of this so fast that Diana could barely follow and by the end she was just confused. She just stared at the girl in front of her, sitting on the floor wrapped in a thin sheet. She wasn’t sure if she believed her, but then she noticed those same dark maroon eyes that the little white bunny had stared at her with. 

“And what if I don’t believe you?” Diana asked, watching the girl’s face redden a little.  
“I know it sounds silly, but it’s true! My friends and I are all witches in training, just like you!” She said ardently and Diana nodded.  
“Okay, and what is your name little bunny?” Diana asked and Akko could almost see a smile beginning at the corners of her mouth.  
“I’m Atsuko Kagari, but everybody calls me Akko.” The girl said with a goofy grin.  
“Well Miss Kagari, I think it’s time you got home, I’m sure your friends and family are worried about you.” Diana stood up, her lacy light blue nightgown flowed around her as she walked toward her armoire. Akko watched from the cold floor as she pulled some clothes out of her dresser and tossed them at her. “Here, put on some clothes.” Diana gestured to another door. “The bathroom is over there.” Akko nodded, gathering the sheet around her and walking over to the bathroom. She managed to trip only once on the sheet as Diana shook her head. 

Once Akko was in the bathroom, Diana quickly got dressed and braided her curly hair. She was racking her brain for a good way to sneak the girl out of the castle without someone catching them. It was still barely after dawn, so much of the castle and the surrounding town was still sound asleep. The only ones awake were bakers and the odd farmer feeding his livestock. Diana usually got up around this time and snuck out to the gardens to work on plant-based spells until breakfast time, this morning she would be lucky to make it to breakfast.

“Uhm, I’m not sure about this.” Akko said, stepping out of the bathroom. Diana looked at her and lost her train of thought momentarily. She had given her a relatively plain pink dress that Diana had been given a few years prior. She had gotten a pretty good look at Akko before she had covered herself up, and noticed that she was a little smaller in the hips and bust than Diana herself was. The pink dress fit the girl perfectly, accentuating her slight curves and brightening her unique eyes. Diana could feel Akko looking her up and down as well. She had just put on her Luna Nova uniform so that she would not be late for class.  
“What are you unsure of Miss Kagari?” Diana asked, but Akko was already running over to her.

“Oh my god, that’s the Luna Nova uniform!” Akko examined the uniform intently, making Diana a little uncomfortable. “I’ve always dreamed of going there, it seems so amazing!” Akko flashed her a huge smile and Diana felt her cheeks warm just slightly.  
“Yes, it is a good school.” Diana straightened her back. “We need to get moving if I’m going to get you out of here undetected.” Akko nodded, putting on a comically serious face and following Diana to the door. They crept out and silently padded down the halls. They only almost got caught once, and Diana hed felt Akko grab the edge of her cloak and not let go until they were safely in the catacombs underneath.  
“Woah, I had no idea there were so many secret tunnels in this castle!” Akko said, looking around at the damp stone walls. Diana lit their way with a simple incantation. She knew these tunnels like the back of her hand. She used to explore down here for hours, finding every hidden corner and room. She had used these tunnels to sneak out of the compound years ago, and that was how she was going to get Akko back to the outside as well. After another 30 minutes of walking in relative silence Diana came to a stop, Akko running into her back.

“Oof, what did you stop for?” Akko asked, peering around Diana at the end of the tunnel. There was a rusted metal ladder that led up for what looked like forever. “Are we going up there?” Diana shook her head.  
“No, you are going up there. I have to get back to class on time. Follow that ladder, take a right into the large metal pipe at the top and it should deposit you near the edge of town.” Diana said curtly, before turning around. Akko stood for a second before smiling and grabbing Diana’s hand.  
“Thank you, you know, for not turning me over to the guards or anything.” Akko said, giving Diana’s hand a squeeze. Diana just nodded. Akko’s hand felt so soft and warm in her’s. No one ever held her hand or really touched her ever. The only one who ever tried was Andrew, but that didn’t feel anything like this.  
“Safe travels Miss Kagari.” Diana gave her a hint of a smile before turning again and disappearing down the tunnel. Akko grinned and turned back to the ladder.

“Alright, time to go yell at Sucy!” She started climbing the rusty ladder, wishing she had her wand to help. By the time she made it up to the pipes, Akko was already sweaty and covered in mud and rust flakes. “Aw man, I ruined her nice dress.” She said, brushing some dirt off of it. “I know, I’ll just have to make it up to her!” Akko thought about what she could do as she walked through the pipe, eventually seeing a hint of daylight at the end of it. There had been a steady stream of water under her feet and as she stepped out of the pipe she fell a few feet into a small creek. Her boots were already caked in mud and covered in a slimy layer of algae from the pipe, but now the rest of her was damp as well. Akko quickly pulled herself up and looked around. She was at the very edge of town and it would easily take her 30 minutes to get back to the wall. There was no way she would make it to school on time, she thought, as she took off running back into the town. Akko was struggling to catch her breath when she rounded a corner near the wall and stumbled upon a worried looking Sucy and Lotte yelling at one the gate guards.

“Look, our friend is in there somewhere and we need to find her.” Sucy said and Lotte nodded.  
“Yeah, and she might be hurt! Let us in!” Lotte yelled.  
“Kids, there is no way your little friend got in here. The barrier can’t just be snuck into. And even if she was in here, she would be in a lot of trouble anyway.” The guard said tiredly. Sucy was about to say something when Akko yelled.

“Hey guys!” They both turned around and smiled at her. Lotte ran over while Sucy turned back to the guard.  
“Nevermind, it was just a bunny we were thinking of. Have a nice day.” Sucy said with a wink and the guard just stared at her as she walked over to Akko, who was currently being hugged by Lotte.  
“So, Akko, nice pink dress. Also, what the heck happened to you?” Sucy asked.  
“Oh man, have I got a story for you.” Akko said with a big grin.


End file.
